Faith Without Good Work

“Faith without good work,” says St. James, “is dead” (James 2:26). Dead also are all the nagging, complaining and preaching about poverty in Africa, without action. My team and I quit complaining about poverty in Africa in 2013 and started doing our bits. We decided to start investing our time, talent and money towards nurturing ethical and innovative African leaders. We do this because we believe that poverty in Africa is largely due to failure of leadership. Our goal is to raise leaders that will do the right thing and only the right thing for Africa.

One of the things we do for these future leaders is to help them acquire University education. This is because in the course of nurturing these future leaders, we discovered that many of them can hardly afford to pay for college. Some are orphans or semi-orphans. Others have parents that either are not gainfully employed or are employed but are being owed months of unpaid salaries by the government. We discovered that some of them have had to get involved in unethical deals to pay their tuitions. As the economy worsens in Nigeria, we worry that some may drop out or take to prostitution, kidnapping, terrorism or other criminal acts to stay in college. A timely tuition support may be one big thing some of them may need to stay focused and continue to pursue their dreams, our dreams. Read some of the comments made by the beneficiaries of our scholarship scheme in this newsletter to hear from the horse’s mouth.

We thank our donors. A glance at the list of donors (http://csaaeinc.org/elp-scholarship/) shows that our donors are average people who have to save year-round to support these future leaders. I was touched when I called Osadiaye, one of our donors, to make her payments. She said, “I am waiting to receive my tax return.” Osadiaye, like many Nigerians, has numerous relatives: cousins, nieces, nephews, towns men and women to help. But, she squeezes out some money to give to someone she is not related to. It is honorable to help our relatives. But it is blessed to help people that you have no obligation unto. Isn’t that what Christ means in Mt. 5: 46-47.

Compared to the amount of money we lavish on parties, funerals, smartphones, exotic shoes and wears, etc., N100,000.00 tuition support per annum is actually nothing. For our American friends, this is less than $500.00. But that can stop a college student in Nigeria from completing college. The good thing about CSAAEINC scholarship is that it is not one of those scholarships given for the sake of giving scholarships. It is properly coordinated and there is a system in place to track the progress of recipients. It is transparent and detribalized. But most of all, it is meant to help raise ethical and innovative leaders who will make Africa a better place for all of us, Africans and non-Africans alike. Please support us.